Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Review

Closer Look:

The Cosmos II has two sliding panels that stealth things up for you. Besides the value of covering up the drive bays and the power/reset buttons when not in use. They are also very elegantly done. Here is where the "painting a picture for you' I mentioned earlier comes into play. With a case that is at this price point and high end of the spectrum, a portion of what you are paying for is a certain amount of ergonomics. A good example of this is the front aluminum panel that covers the three 5.25" & two 3.5" hot swap bays. I found myself repeatedly opening and closing it just because of the quality feel of it. Recall, if you will, that very expensive weighty pen that you once had that you couldn't keep from clicking because it had that great smooth resistance feel to it. Such are the two panels on the Cosmos II. If you put your finger in the cutout fingerpull at the top of the front panel and turn your digit 90 degrees, the panel begins to fall in a dramatic super slo-mo fashion until it reveals the bays behind it. Finish changing out that CD or DVD, and its just as smooth pushing the panel closed again with the magnets that hold it closed giving you a confirming soft click at the top. This is just another example of the attention to detail that has been designed into this case. Every aspect of it feels and looks crafted.

Behind the top sliding panel are the power,reset, and fan controller buttons for the system. The touch sensitive power button of the original Cosmos is gone, but they have been replaced by short throw pressure sensitive switches that give you a small bump as feedback to let you know that it has been activated, or the setting changed. From the top power panel you can control the fan speeds via the power leads to the fans in the areas of the GPU,HDD,Top fans, and Front fans. There are three speeds each corresponding to a change in LED color ( low-med-high = blue-purple-red). There are an equal number of leads included for fans that include an LED on/off feature. the Cosmos's front 200mm fan (included) does have this feature, and can be turned off if you don't care for the blue glow of the fans' LEDs.

Behind the front sliding panel you will find three 5.25" bays and two 3.5" dock-X hot swaps that are lockable with four included keys. The locks are not anything that will keep out anyone who really wants your HDD, but they are good for those with kids and enough to discourage nosey brother-in-laws.